far, far away

Become a Ghost

Several months ago, around graduation time, I wrote about how we live life in moments, short little spurts of time. Time passes without much notice for most of us. We live our lives and follow the same patterns today that we followed yesterday and that we'll likely follow tomorrow.

It is those brief moments in time when a sudden shift turns us on a dime that define us. As I approach one such moment in time I find myself feeling detached from my surroundings. I feel a growing disconnect in everything I do.

My college roommate, PJ, was talking to me the other day. He cleans pools, well, just in the summer time. He was telling me how hard it is to work in the neighborhood where his former girlfriend used to live. He said he felt like a ghost of his former self, taking a tour of his former life, detached from it all, but still well aware of what that place once meant to him.

I feel such a gap growing as I go about my daily routines. I feel more and more like an  outsider while walking to work. I feel like a tourist riding on the train. I don't see the point in eating Japanese food anymore, even though I still do. I'm not really sure why.

Maybe it's all that I can do.

So...

Obviously I'm a little rusty with messing around with HTML or youtube just won't let me re-size their video.

This post is merely here to add some space.

That's right...no content whatsoever.

Next post will have content.

I promise.

As for this post....I apologize.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well, I've been quite busy with preparations for my departure. Boxing stuff up, shipping stuff home, getting a flight date setup. I also found out who my replacement is. Her name is Kirstian and she is from Canada. She seems really nice and has an excellent educational background and some experience in Japan. I think she's going to do great.

I feel like my predecessor really let me down, so I'm trying hard to give her all the information she'll need and any help she wants. It seems like so long ago that I was just moving here. Crazy.

Not much else going on. Here's something to keep you occupied in the meantime- 

Class Trip

Today was that day that children relish above all other days- The class trip. An actual day of school that isn't school...wow...what a great thing. Let me tell you, it's even better when you get paid to do it.

In Japan there are two field trips a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The spring one is more a day of relaxation. I went with the first grade (like 6th grade back home) to a park in Sakai, which is about 25 minutes from my house by train.

I wasn't really sure what we were going to do, but what we ended up doing wasn't what I had in mind, it was pretty neat though. The kids cooked a curry rice lunch from scratch, over fire. Strange, yes, but also pretty tasty. I really got a good chance to talk to the kids, which was lots of fun.

After lunch the kids had a dodge ball tournament and then it was back to school. Not a bad day at all. Pictures are up!

In other news, I went to Byodoin last weekend. That's the temple on the back of the 10 yen coin...for all of you that have 10 yen coins laying around.